There are plenty of examples of this. Take the national team's rollercoaster results in the 1950 final pool; the constant striving for a higher aesthetic (eg 1958, 1982) set against the occasional lapse into cartoon bone-headedness, the spirit of '45 and 1974; Gilmar, then Felix. But the 1970 World Cup final is perhaps the best case in point. Brazil put on arguably the greatest soccer spectacular in history, the cherry on the cake of the most storied and glamorous World Cup ever. And yet the performance is intermittently punctured by some of the most ludicrous play ever witnessed at the very top level. Rivelino in particular makes a proper show of himself in the first half by blootering one free-kick a good 30 miles over the bar, then shanking a corner out on the full, a good 30 miles over everyone's head.

Brazil's third goal is a glorious mix of glamour and galootery. Gérson finds Pele in the move for Jairzinho's clincher with a 40-yard wandwave from the halfway line, a pass of such teasing accuracy that Tarcisio Burgnich – catenaccio mainstay and integral part of the miserly Grande Inter – appears to have been momentarily overtaken by the spirit and positional sense of Paul Konchesky. As if to set a seal on Brazil's schizophrenic performance, once Pele heads down for Jairzinho, the striker takes an ugly fresh-air swipe as he attempts to finish his close-range bundle with a stylish swish.

But it's Clodoaldo who really did his best to highlight the beautiful contradictions in the Brazilian game. The young midfielder made two huge contributions to Brazil's triumph in Mexico: a stunning equaliser in the semi-final against Uruguay when the ghosts of 1950 were circling overhead, then in the final, a mazy dribble deep inside his own half at the – cue retro Mexican TV caption – 41' mark. It was the booster shot of adrenaline that shook Brazil out of time-management mode and sparked the move which ended with Carlos Alberto's famous fourth. If you accept that Brazil's 1970 triumph wouldn't be half the same without this iconic flourish, then Clodoaldo deserves a large dollop of the credit for starting off the whole process and elevating a common-or-garden victory into the realms of high art.

So it's something of a shame that he's mainly remembered for the astonishing aberration that could easily have lost Brazil the cup, a needlessly baroque backheel inside his own half which let in Roberto Boninsegna for an equaliser. Doubly so, because it wasn't all his fault. Sure, there's a time and a place for fancy flicks, and a goal up in a World Cup final might not be it. But Piazza (floating a lazy chip across the back line) and Brito (heading inside to Clodoaldo with Boninsegna lurking) were fannying around too, while Felix came rashly flying out of his box and clattered into Brito in the silent-movie style, allowing Boninsegna to stroke home into an empty net. In fact, the only man in danger of stopping the Italian striker was his team-mate Luigi Riva, who with the goal gaping nearly couldn't get out of the road in time. Brazil, to a man, were wholly brilliant that day, and yet right here they were all over the shop. Which is exactly why everyone loves them. SM

From the sublimely ridiculous to the ridiculous. Falkirk's 1988-89 vintage may not be compared to Brazil c.70 very often, but here's their defence huddled together at Broomfield, embarrassed and out of position rather like Everaldo, Piazza and Brito were at the Azteca 19 years earlier. And rather like Clodoaldo, Jim Holmes - running back to make a half-arsed fist of hacking the ball clear, and failing dismally - cops for the lion's share of blame for this one. Only this time he fully deserves it. Look at the state of it. What a carry on.

It's worth noting that, three games from the end of the season, Falkirk were chasing promotion to the Premier Division. They missed out by two points, but still had a better goal difference than the eventual champions Dunfermline Athletic. As this was the opening goal in an eventual 3-0 defeat, it's not a huge stretch to say that it went a wee way to costing the Bairns a place alongside Scotland's elite. Oh Jim! At least Clodoaldo has a World Cup winner's medal to keep him warm at night.

It's also worth noting that this goal was given a new life after being featured on a bloopers VHS narrated by popular 1990s comic Rory McGrath, who took the opportunity to showcase some material skewering "Jocks" and their predilection for "battered pizza". Well done, Rory! Working class folk and their deep-fried food! Glad to see that Oxbridge education didn't go to waste. In his later years, Peter Cook became good pals with McGrath, which is rather like Lenny Bruce going round Russell Howard's for supper, the dinner party music penned by Stock, Aitken and Mozart. SM

The 2005-06 season was a strange one for Arsenal. It was their last season at Highbury before their money-spinning move down the road to the Emirates Stadium, they wore a redcurrant strip instead of the traditional red shirt with white sleeves and, for the first time under Arsène Wenger, they were forced to regard Tottenham as genuine rivals, battling with Martin Jol's side for the fourth Champions League place until a dodgy lasagne intervened on the final day.

It was an awkward time for Arsenal, who were at the start of their post-Invincibles decline and utterly incapable of dealing with a Chelsea side that was giddy on Roman Abramovich's billions and José Mourinho's swagger. They beat Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup final in 2005 but were rarely in touching distance of Chelsea in the league, eventually finishing 12 points behind Mourinho's side, and the failure to replace Patrick Vieira, who left for Juventus, ensured they would not challenge for the title. When Chelsea won 2-0 at Highbury in the middle of December, Arsenal were in eighth place, five points behind Tottenham.

Injuries in defence did not help their cause. Ashley Cole missed much of the season and his young deputy, Gael Clichy, was often unavailable too. When Arsenal lost 1-0 at Everton in January, Kerrea Gilbert made his debut at right-back, Lauren played out of position on the left and Kolo Touré's absence meant Sol Campbell was partnered by Phillipe Senderos, a man whose default facial expression makes him look like he's worried he's left the oven on at home. A week later, Senderos and Campbell, 31, were both at fault when Jason Roberts scored the extra-time goal that took Wigan to the Carling Cup final at Arsenal's expense.

All was not well and when West Ham arrived at Highbury on a Wednesday night, they glanced across at a defence of Gilbert-Djourou-Campbell-Senderos: the infamous Arsenal back four.

They still had Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires, though, and West Ham were under the cosh for much of the opening period. And then things got surreal. After 25 minutes of incessant pressure, Matthew Etherington played a pass to Nigel Reo-Coker, whose path was blocked by Campbell. Everything was under control. Or so we thought. In one bizarre moment, Reo-Coker managed to toe-poke the ball past Campbell who, bamboozled by a bobble, swung wildly in a manner more befitting of a player on Hackney Marshes than an England international. Reo-Coker raced away and coolly gave West Ham the lead.

The bobble was enough to make us momentarily give Campbell the benefit of the doubt. It didn't last long. Seven minutes later, Paul Konchesky lifted the ball over the Arsenal defence for Bobby Zamora to chase. Campbell came across, looking to strong-arm Zamora away from goal, only to be unceremoniously barged to the floor by the West Ham striker, who doubled the visitors' lead. Once? It happens. But twice? In the space of seven minutes? Something had to be up. Something was up – when the teams emerged for the second half, Sebastian Larsson had taken Campbell's place and the defender did not even stay to watch the end of a match which Arsenal lost 3-2 (incidentally it was their last defeat at Highbury).

"He felt guilty," Wenger said. "I took him off because I felt that mentally he was too down to come back out. I knew it would be better for him personally. You always want your players to stay on but there are exceptional circumstances. He did not mean to be disrespectful to the club or the team, but he is very down. His confidence is not at the highest at the moment."

Campbell disappeared the next day and, with a depressing inevitability, the rumour mill cranked into action, though he had recently admitted to doubts about his form. "Sometimes you end up thinking, why is this not happening?" he told the Guardian a few months earlier. "The relationship with my body and the ball, my positioning on the pitch, the timing and touch, is just not right."

It had all become too much on that Wednesday night and Campbell did not play again until the middle of April. When he returned, he helped Arsenal finish above Tottenham on the final day, scored the opener as they lost the Champions League final to Barcelona and even earned a place in England's squad for the World Cup in Germany. Another blow landed in football's brave fight against logic. JS

Manchester United had a tricky, sometimes farcical, relationship with the FA Cup in the post-Treble years. In 2000, instead of defending their trophy they jetted off to Brazil to play in the Club World Championship as part of the FA's foolproof scheme to secure the 2006 World Cup. They went out in the fourth round a year later, losing 1-0 at home to West Ham after Fabien Barthez failed to fool Paolo Di Canio with his special taxi trick and, in 2003, they lost 2-0 to Arsenal at Old Trafford, Ryan Giggs missing an open goal and Sir Alex Ferguson taking out his frustration by accidentally booting a boot at David Beckham's forehead. Brazil, Barthez, a boot and Beckham – quite the collection.

To it, though, we must add Laurent Blanc, whose main crime was standing around and doing nothing as Manchester United lost 2-0 at Middlesbrough in the fourth round in 2002, a defeat which brought an abrupt end to Ferguson's dreams of a second Treble in what was supposed to be his final season before retiring (he happened to change his mind on that one, by the way).

After winning three successive league titles, United were woefully inconsistent in the 2001-02 season. The signing of Juan Sebastián Verón threw the midfield off-kilter, while the defence was a mess after Jaap Stam was sold to Lazio in August and replaced by Laurent Blanc. Ferguson was a long-time admirer of the 35-year-old, who arrived on a free from Internazionale, but it soon became apparent that he was past his best and too slow for the Premier League, where his elegant style merely looked lackadaisical. There was particular amusement when United lost successive matches to Bolton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea before Christmas: B-L-A-N-C. Barthez was in full blundering mode too, even giving himself a punishment wedgie after his errors against Arsenal in November.

In his valedictory season, Ferguson was also hellbent on reaching the Champions League final, which was held at Hampden Park in Glasgow. As such, he rotated his squad heavily and put out a reserve side when United played Arsenal in the third round of the League Cup; they were rewarded with a 4-0 thumping.

He also gambled, albeit to a lesser extent, when United went to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup in January. Without the injured pair of Beckham and Verón, Giggs and Ruud van Nistelrooy both started on the bench and United toiled for much of the match.

The game was heading for a replay at Old Trafford when, with five minutes to go, Mark Crossley booted a goal-kick up the pitch and towards United's area. Under no pressure, all Blanc needed to do was head the ball back from whence it came. But instead he decided it was time to be cool, ducking under the ball with the intention of letting it run back to Barthez and failing to realise that Noel Whelan was on to his ruse. The Middlesbrough striker stole in, scored and with a minute left, Andy Campbell made it 2-0. Blanc used to kiss Barthez's bald head for luck before matches but the ritual sadly failed to create a telepathic link between them.

There have been worse and more significant mistakes. But what makes this great is the sheer nonchalance, the breezy assumption that the best course of action has been taken – it's not easy making it look this easy – and the way that Blanc ducks under the ball with all the insouciance of a man flicking a cigarette out of his car window. Essentially a Gallic shrug disguised as a piece of defending. JS

Tofiq Bahramov's decision to award England their third goal in the World Cup final against West Germany wasn't the worst error made in a 1966 Wembley final. Instead that honour goes to poor Gerry Young, whose howler against Everton was the sorry culmination of Sheffield Wednesday's abject collapse in the FA Cup final two months earlier. After 57 minutes, Wednesday were cruising, two goals up and on their way to winning the trophy for the fourth time, but 33 minutes later, Young was weeping on the ground after one of the more traumatic defeats in the competition's history.

The day could hardly have started better for Wednesday, who stormed into the lead after four minutes thanks to Jim McCalliog's goal and when David Ford made it 2-0, history was on their side – no team had ever lost an FA Cup final in normal time from that position against a team without any injured players.

However, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney watching on from the stands, Everton were undeterred and they were soon level thanks to two goals in five minutes from Mike Trebilcock, which was the cue for a pitch invasion from one Toffees fan, Eddie Cavanagh, who left one hapless policeman trailing in his wake before being rugby tackled by a second.

The drama did not end there, though. With 16 minutes left, a long, aimless ball was pumped up into Wednesday's half. There should have been no danger. "Gerry Young had ample time to and space to collect a loose ball in midfield," wrote Hugh McIlvanney in the Observer, "but somehow he missed it completely." It was a catastrophic error. Trying to trap the ball, Young succeeded only in tripping over it, allowing Derek Temple to race away and blast it past Ron Springett. Young, frantically chasing back, collapsed as the ball soared into the Wednesday goal to seal Everton's third FA Cup. Remember kids, there's no place in the world as safe as Row Z. JS

Even as he lifted the World Cup in 1966, England's captain, Bobby Moore, might have suspected that it would not always be like this, that one day he would know humiliation, that one day people would question his place and wonder whether it was time for him to call it a day. That time did not come for a while and at the next World Cup in Mexico in 1970, Moore produced the most famous tackle of all time, expertly dispossessing Jairzinho in a magnificent game between England and Brazil. At the end of the game, which Brazil won 1-0, there was that iconic embrace between Moore and Pele.

Yet by 1973, with England struggling to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, the doubts were starting to build up. Placed in a qualifying group with Poland and Wales, England made life difficult for themselves by drawing 1-1 with Wales at Wembley, meaning that there was little margin for error when they travelled to Poland in June. At the age of 32, Moore's form was showing signs of decline and there were those who wondered whether the increasingly beleaguered manager, Sir Alf Ramsey, had fallen prey to sentiment by persisting with his captain.

The doubts proved well-founded. After seven minutes, terrible defending from England enabled Poland to take the lead, although there is some debate over whether the goal belonged to Robert Gadocha or whether it was an own goal by Moore. Either way, worse was to come. "The second was the result of a rare and calamitous error by Bobby Moore," David Lacey wrote in the Guardian. With Moore dithering in his own half, Wlodzimierz Lubanski took advantage of his indecision to nab possession and seal the points.

England were in a hole and when the must-win return match came around at Wembley in October, Ramsey dropped Moore and played Norman Hunter instead. The ploy failed to work. A mistake by Hunter allowed Poland to take the lead and Jan Tomaszewski secured Poland the point they needed to reach the World Cup. Ramsey was removed as manager and Moore won his 108th and final cap in a friendly against Italy at Wembley a month later. Fabio Capello scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for the visitors. JS